


Dream of Better Things

by ebeatrice



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dancing for Mad Man, Gen, Memory Magic, Mischief, Other, Past Child Abuse, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:07:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29972289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebeatrice/pseuds/ebeatrice
Summary: Training with Gamora and Nebula, Loki causes a bit of mischief. Consequences follow, as they always do when he expresses anything other than utter subservience to Thanos, but they are not what he expects.
Relationships: Gamora & Loki (Marvel)
Kudos: 11





	Dream of Better Things

“While you’re here, you can spar with my daughters,” says Thanos, “it’s been too long since they’ve faced a challenge. I hope you won’t disappoint me in this.”

Loki can sense a trap afoot. Thanos has many subordinates he calls his children, but when he speaks of his daughters, he means two in particular: Nebula and Gamora. Deadly assassins, they hold a place of privilege on the Sanctuary - Gamora, the favorite, and Nebula, the sibling she prefers. The sibling she pities. 

Thanos enjoys testing people. Once, days or weeks ago, when Loki was still new to this place and its cruelties, he’d unwisely remarked that the mad titan seemed to like playing games. The beating that followed that quip taught him a valuable lesson in vocabulary. _Choose your word carefully, Asgardian_. Loki’s proud to say that he’s a quick study; he’s caught on that there was no point in arguing the semantics of tests vs. games without anyone here having to raise a hand.

These sparring sessions he’s been ordered to attend are most definitely a test. The question is - who’s being tested? He’s the obvious choice, but then again, even Thanos’ favored daughters aren’t immune to their father’s discerning eye. It’s just as likely that they’re all being tested.

* * *

Sparring with the titan’s daughters presents a challenge, but it is not as daunting as Loki first anticipated. They are both exquisitely skilled fighters, the obvious result of years of training - but then, so is he. For a while, every one of their matches ends in a draw. This changes when Thanos joins them as an observer of their progress.

“No more holding back,” he decrees.

His arrival has triggered a shift in the air. Gamora who, moments ago, was seated with her back against the wall, is on her feet again, spine straight. Nebula stands even straighter, her body trembling at the effort. Even Loki feels himself stand at attention in a way he never did back home.

“Asgardian, you may use your magic freely.”

Another small wave of shock from the sisters. Gamora studies him now with a sharp gaze, as she readjusts her combat strategy. Nebula glares, resentful as she’s faced with yet another test graded on her sister’s curve. He can guess at a pattern here: the elder sibling victorious, the younger, overlooked. Oh yes, Loki can see it all _very_ clearly.

There will be three matches: Loki vs. Nebula, Loki vs. Gamora and then the sisters will face off. His sedir grows agitated as he prepares to fight. It has been days since he was able to call on his magic without fear of repercussions. The pulse of it warms him, briefly chasing away the damp chill of Thanos’ imposing ship. An idea springs forth from this momentary warmth - a lark. One might even call it mischief.

As ordered, Loki doesn’t hold back as he spars against Nebula; neither does she. They both fight with a ferocity that was lacking in their earlier sessions. His magic takes her by surprise and he eludes her attacks with easy tricks, simpler magic that what he once used to confound Thor. When she does land a hit however, her blows are heavier, their impact far more painful. _The most sadistic woman in the galaxy, indeed._

They proceed like this, evenly matched for quite a while, both of them glancing frequently at their exalted spectator. Thanos has come for a show and Loki certainly intends to give him one. Just as the titan begins to grow bored, he feints. Nebula sees only that he’s lost his footing. She pounces, knocking him to the ground and bringing the match to a swift end. There’s the slightest shadow of a smile on her face as she emerges the victor. 

(Sometimes, Loki notes, the most powerful illusions require no magic at all).

Thanos says nothing as he comes to his feet and Gamora takes her sister’s place in the ring. He gathers that this silence is to be expected. Judgement, it seems, is yet to come. 

Gamora is more guarded than her sister, and Loki often struggles to read her mood. But as she prepares for battle, he can feel her confidence surging. If Nebula defeated him, her own victory is secured. In her conviction, he cannot help but see shades of Thor.

The match begins and it is now Gamora’s turn to share the tricks she has been hiding. She is quicker than she was in training, and more ruthless. It strikes Loki that her fighting lacks Nebula’s performative style. She means to offer her father no entertainment; only to end this fight quickly. He wonders in between blows what Thanos thinks of this small rebellion - if, indeed, he’s even aware of it. 

Unluckily for her, Loki intends to put on a show. He calls on his magic in a way that he hasn’t in earlier combat, confusing his opponent with doubles and even triples of himself. She adapts with commendable haste, quickly learning that his illusions can do little to physically hurt her. Still, she can’t yet tell them apart without going through a process of trial and error and it is this weakness that he exploits. With each blow she now delivers to his true self, he repays her in kind, taking advantage of her uncertain state to hit harder and harder, faster and faster until finally, Gamora falls. Loki pins her to the ground and waits for Thanos to proclaim his victory.

It takes a while. He wonders if the titan is perhaps buying his favorite daughter time enough to gather her strength and continue the fight. Certainly, she wrestles against his hold - but to no avail. Finally, Thanos nods and Loki lets her go.

“Explain yourself, Asgardian,” he says.

“Terribly sorry,” Loki replies, “it would seem my magic took some time to bounce back.” 

His tone is light, nearly mocking. It is a dangerous tone to employ in front of the mad man who keeps him captive aboard this ship, one that might cause his other children to accuse him of insolence. Another _lesson_ in showing proper respect may yet be in his future.

In the present, Thanos says nothing. Perhaps Loki has passed this latest test after all. 

He gestures at his daughters, who take their spots in the ring. This last fight is quick. Fueled by rage and shame at her defeat, Gamora beats Nebula in a matter of minutes.

* * *

When, later, in what might pass as nighttime, Gamora appears in the doorway of Loki’s small cell, he isn’t surprised.

“Have you come to punish me for my insolence?” he asks, mockingly, “How _exciting_ \- you haven’t tortured me yet. I wonder what you have in store for me?”

As in the ring, Gamora prioritizes efficiency over dramatics. She answers Loki not with words, but by pinning him to the wall, her hand wrapped around his throat.

“You threw the fight against Nebula on purpose,” she says, “why?”

“Shouldn’t she get to win every once and again?” he asks, blithely - or, as blithely as he can while in a chokehold. This is apparently the wrong thing to say, for Gamora tightens her grip.

“Don’t pretend to understand how things work around here,” she hisses, “you understand _nothing._ ” 

Loki finds her analysis unfair. He understands some things about this place very clearly. Certainly, he knows enough to see that they all, even Gamora, continue to live and breathe at the mad titan’s pleasure. 

“Well,” he says contemptuously, “it isn’t as if anyone’s explained things to me yet.”

In one swift movement, he raises a hand and presses it to her exposed forehead, allowing himself access to her deepest memories.

* * *

 _People run for their lives, trying to escape a chaos he cannot comprehend. Trying to escape_ him. _Loki spots Thanos before Gamora does, as she crashes into his legs in a desperate search for her lost mother._

_“What’s wrong, little one?”_

_Thanos is intrigued by the little girl at his feet. He lowers himself to her level._

_In that moment, Gamora is doomed._

* * *

_He recognizes the lingering dampness of the Sanctuary before he recognizes the ship itself. Gamora kneels in the throne room, a child still._

_“I’m sorry, I’ll do better next time - I promise!” she pleads. Scared as she clearly is, she still faces Thanos head on, her gaze fixed on his._

_“I know you will, Little One,” says the titan, “I’ll make sure of it.”_

_He gives a nod and suddenly there is a presence behind Gamora, a boney hand on her shoulder. It is The Other, come to escort her to somewhere quieter._

* * *

_Loki cannot feel her pain for her, but he can see it in the way that little Gamora holds herself up. Her face is covered in bandages. Alone in her own small room, she practices her kicks and her punches._

_“You have to win,” she says, doing the exercises over and over again, “you have to win.”_

* * *

Loki wrests his hand from Gamora with force. She stopped choking him while he danced around in her memories and once his hand leaves her forehead, she stumbles backwards, disoriented.

“Wh-what did you do to me?” she asks, her voice small and brittle. Her guarded expression is gone, replaced with one of raw terror. 

An expression that Loki expects matches his own.

“You were a child,” he says, trembling.

They stare at each, both shaken by their new knowledge of the other. Loki had yet to share his memory trick with anyone aboard the Sanctuary. As for Gamora… If he were in her shoes, he wouldn’t share such things with strange men either.

After a long moment of silence, Gamora is the first to speak.

“I’m going to have to tell him about this,” she says. She sounds almost apologetic.

Normally, Loki would react badly. He knows the cost of a lie in this place -even a lie of omission - and he _detests_ being pitied. Tonight though, he nods in defeat.

“I understand,” he says. 

Gamora gets up to leave, but her movements are slow, uncertain. 

“Stay a while,” says Loki, “I could use the company.”

Evidently, so could she. She turns and takes a seat near him on the thin cot he’s been allotted. 

“There’s worse in store for you,” she says, “even if I were to keep this quiet.”

He’s tempted to bargain with her, to say _perhaps he doesn’t have to find out from you_ , but it’s clear from her tone that he won’t get far. She speaks not for purposes of negotiation; she means only to warn him. (Thor never understood the nuances of bargaining, he remembers. He relied on Loki to do all the talking). 

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” he says, “Thanos likes broken things.”

His guest is quiet for a long moment. She stares straight ahead, her shoulders hunched with tension. 

“That doesn’t make it right,” she says. 

There is nothing _right_ about what Loki’s just said; a monster who enjoys lording over a legion of emotionally broken underlings is the furthest thing from _right_ that he can imagine. But it strikes him that Gamora isn’t really answering him. Rather, she seems to be carrying on an entirely different conversation with herself. Her guard is down after their raw encounter moments ago and there is a whiff of treason to her words. Loki could use them against her - a bargaining chip to keep her quiet about his memory trick ( _leverage_ , tells an imaginary Thor, _you need leverage to bargain_ ), but he decides against it. 

One wrong word and Gamora could shy away from the treacherous path. Better to say nothing and to let her anger fester. Better to let it burn. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you got here really early and have come back (first of all thank you), you may have noticed the fic changed a bit. I wasn't quite satisfied with my inital publication and did some post-pub edits to purge some cornier lines.


End file.
